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Volume 10, Issue 48
LCSO sued over alleged assault Lawsuit claims corrections offcers assaulted inmate last year
DAVE O’BRIEN THE COMMUNITY GUIDE
A Norwalk man alleges in a lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Cleveland Nov. 27 that Lorain County Jail corrections officers assaulted him while he was an inmate at the jail last year. Franklin Ward, 40, sued the Lorain County Sheriff’s Office, the Lorain County Jail, Lorain County corrections officer Shea
Adkisson and 10 other unnamed corrections officers in federal court. The lawsuit, which misnames Adkisson as “Shay Atkinson,” said that the corrections officer assaulted Ward “with no warning or justification” after Ward was booked into the Lorain County Jail in December 2022. Adkisson “placed Plaintiff Ward in a choke hold where he lost consciousness,” according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges assault and battery, excessive force, failure to prevent excessive force, failure to train, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and negligent infliction of emotional distress. It seeks more than $150,000 in compensatory and punitive damages each, on each of the six counts alleged, along with court costs, interest and attorney fees. Ward is represented by attorney Brett Murner of Wellington, for whom a message seeking addi-
tional comment was left Thursday. The case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Pamela Barker. According to his lawsuit, Ward was booked into the jail on a felony drug possession charge on Dec. 1, 2022, and placed in holding for observation. As Adkisson got Ward from holding to transfer him to another area of the jail, Ward said he dropped his jailprovided ID bracelet. That’s when Adkisson assaulted Ward, according to Ward’s law-
suit, hitting him in the head and upper body. When Ward regained consciousness, other unnamed corrections officers allegedly also beat him. Ward said he was handcuffed, placed in a restraint chair and had a seizure. He ended up spending 11 days at University Hospitals Elyria Medical Center, according to his lawsuit. When Ward was returned to custody at the jail, he alleged he LAWSUIT PAGE A4
Commissioners OK contracts, settlement with 911 vendor DAVE O’BRIEN THE COMMUNITY GUIDE
CARISSA WOYTACH | The Community Guide
Officer Mark Pultrone shops with Kobi Geiger, 7, at the Lorain Walmart during the Lorain Police Department’s 14th annual Cops and Kids event on Saturday, Dec. 2.
‘It’s about allowing a child to still be a child’ CARISSA WOYTACH THE COMMUNITY GUIDE
LORAIN — Santa traded his sleigh for a SWAT vehicle on Dec. 2. Lorain Police Department’s annual Cops and Kids event brought more than 150 kids to the city’s Walmart and Meijer stores to shop for toys, video games, clothes and gifts for their families as part of the 14th annual event. This year the Lorain Fraternal Order of Police Lodge No. 3 raised about $22,000 for the program, dividing the funds between each child. The department received about 1,100 applications, Officer Miguel Baez said. “Some of the applicants are people that have lost loved ones during this time, people that have come down (with) financial hardships, people that are trying to progress — I have single moms that are going to nursing (school)
and doing full-time work and if this is something that we can help them out with, it just makes things easier,” he said. Many of the children walking with the officers and other volunteers Saturday morning are Lorain Schools students. As the district’s School Resource Officer, Baez and Lorain Schools Director of Safety and Security Reuben Figueroa — who previously worked for Lorain police — see many of the kids who participated Saturday throughout the school year. Many of those same kids get good grades and work hard in school, Baez said, and Saturday’s event was another chance to reward them. “They’re not complaining about the hardships they’re going through — to me, it’s about allowing a child to still be a child and not worry about adult stuff,” Baez said. Figueroa agreed. COPS AND KIDS PAGE A2
Athena Young, 5, picks out a toy at the Lorain Walmart during the Lorain Police Cops and Kids event.
The Lorain County Board of Commissioners on Dec. 1 approved a nearly $28,000 settlement with a former Texas-based vendor at Lorain County 911 after missing a deadline to cancel an automatic renewal of the vendor’s contract. The board voted 2-0 to pay Kaxxa Holdings $27,615 in order to walk away from a contract with the company, which was providing services to the county 911 system. Commissioners Michelle Hung and Jeff Riddell approved the settlement Friday, with Commissioner David Moore not present as he recovers from a medical procedure. Chief Assistant Lorain County Prosecutor Dan Petticord, the board’s legal counsel and a candidate for Common Pleas judge in the March primary, said the county wasn’t happy with Kaxxa Holdings’ services “and the administration and 911 decided to go in a different direction,” he told the board prior to its vote. However, the contract the county had with Kaxxa had “a rather lengthy automatic renewal provision” of 90 days, and officials “did not make the decision to terminate the contract and move in a different direction until that 90-day window had opened,” Petticord said. When the county told Kaxxa it was terminating the contract, Kaxxa demanded the county renew for the full term of the contract and sent the bill to collections, he said. The matter took a year to resolve, Petticord said. SETTLEMENT PAGE A4
INSIDE THIS WEEK Amherst
Oberlin
Wellington
Santa gets help with letters ● A3
District talks facilty needs ● A5
Fire Chief staffs red kettle ● A4
OBITUARIES A2 • CLASSIFIEDS • CROSSWORD A7 • SUDOKU A7 • KID SCOOP A8